Summer likely to be driest on record in Seattle
Sep 21, 2017, 7:52 AM | Updated: 9:01 am
Rain at Pike Place market in Seattle. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File)
This summer could be the driest on record if we don’t get a total downpour between Thursday and the fall equinox on Friday at 1:02 p.m.
RELATED: Cliff Mass explains La Niña winter
As of around 7 a.m. on Thursday, the rainfall total for the summer was up to 0.51 inches at Sea-Tac, according to the National Weather Service.
The driest summer on record was in 1910, when 0.58 inches of rain fell, according to the Weather Service.
On Wednesday, University of Washington climatologist Cliff Mass wrote that he was “entirely confident” that we would break the record for the driest summer. Mass, however, points out that the driest calendar summer on record was in 1988, when 1.28 inches of rain fell.
Though the years don’t sync up, both the Weather Service and Mass agree on the amount of rain that has fallen. So whichever record year is looked at, we will beat it, as long as the rain holds off long enough.
Mass points out that much of Washington state saw less than 25 percent of average precipitation since June 21. He illustrates why this has occurred and writes, “an anomalous upper-level wave pattern, with high pressure over the west and low pressure over the east.”
Along with the possibility of a new weather record in Seattle, comes the end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
You’ve likely noticed by now that the days are getting shorter; this has been happening since June 21. Sunrise on Thursday was 6:55 a.m. Sunset at 7:08 p.m.
The days will only get shorter until after the winter solstice on Dec. 21.
